Sorry, that's unduly snarky of me. This issue has been managed way better than most others - and polls show good public support already so the message must be working.

Like public opposition to asset sales, it's not being translated into voting intent but that's a bigger problem than this one issue. Failing to strongly and consistently refute Joyce's lies - like claiming the loan for Auckland rail as spending - is part of the same malaise. We all deserve better.

I confess, it's taken me too long to realise what a sweet way into town the Western Line is from Pt Chev. Baldwin Ave is a 5 min drive from where I am, and a fairly safe place to leave the car if I'm in for a big one.

Hmmm, but after the big one, it's a 5 min drive home?

ETA: Buses seem to be better options for boozy nights unless you're walking distance from a train station. Pity, trains are much nicer to ride in. Trains sell on their convenience for commuters. Integrated ticketing would make a huge difference.

Trouble there is you can easily fall asleep on a train, I once ended up miles from home as the sun was coming up. (I could have “Coddingtonised” that)“I once woke up hundreds of thousands of miles away”“Where are we Neil?”“One small step for… what the f….”

Well, yes I have, but the case is so clear and obvious and well expressed, it might change minds if it was given the right forum. What that is and how you get access to it are questions whose answers need more local knowledge than mine. (I've only been here for a couple of years). Radio NZ interview? The Listener? Will there be a public debate on the transport issue before the election?

No courage to run an opposing view as well of course, bullying coward, so i realise by submitting pieces I'm just giving the smug idiots ideas for their own tired views! So no, the Herald is more than a waste of time for any real engagement.

Excellent analysis in my humble opinion. Just one of about 300 reasons to NOT vote for the National Party. But you have to KNOW the reasons and it appears roughly 50% of voters don't. Not sure they will ever know, either.

Fear not ! The rail "loop" will come to pass. The power of the Auckland vote will make this into an election issue in very short order. Politicians are craven creatures, and they will very quickly see the error of their ways.

National is quite certain that it can continue to ignore Auckland’s single voice until said voice gives up and does what it’s told; or gets voted out due to lack of progress in the face of a hostile central government. A voice that, as embodied by Brown, speaks with the mandate of more direct votes than any dozen of the Beehive’s residents combined. Brown needs to remind Joyce and Key of the fact that more people voted for him in that single election than have voted for the two of them combined in every election for which they have stood! (ETA: And that would apply even if Joyce had won Rodney in the last election.)

It’s a shame that the prolles seem to be so completely bamboozled by the Key Cognitive Dissonance Field, because the stated voting patterns really bear no resemblance to any statements made relating to National’s policies.

I’m not interested in Auckland being like every other city in the world, generally. We are what we are – a city the size of Portland, Oregon, shaped by our geography, and our penchant for lots of roads, and bad driving, and short sighted town planning. The public transport thing though – I do find that very exciting. I haven’t been on a train in many years – the last one I went on was as part of the Out West book festival, yonks ago – and I don’t normally take buses (the having to take 3 buses to work thing – yeah). But if there was a linked service from South to Central, I would probably look at it, at least. From my point of view, I find it exhilarating, that not only are we talking about it, but that there are firm plans in place to make it happen. At last!

Pick up the car in the morning, bro. The last train’s at 12.36am. Night may have barely started by then ;-)

Heh, an extra trip just to use the train :-)

I've found it very useful for trips to Waiheke. Train is much nicer for children in prams, and the car is safe outside the house with the huge savage dog that barks ferociously at every single passer by.

Arkansas also has seen a big increase in earthquake activity, which residents have blamed on injection wells. Natural gas companies engaged in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, use fluid to break apart shale and rock to release natural gas. Injection wells then dispose of the fluid by injecting it back into the ground.There are 181 injection wells in the Oklahoma county where most of the weekend earthquakes happened, said Matt Skinner, spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which oversees oil and gas production in the state and intrastate transportation pipelines.But natural gas companies claim there is no proof of a connection between injection wells and earthquakes, and a study released earlier this year by an Oklahoma Geological Survey seismologist seems to back that up. It found most of the state's seismic activity didn't appear to be tied to the wells, although more investigation was needed.

Interested folk in North Canterbury can catch GASLAND- a US based Fracking documentary by Josh Foxon the following days this month:14/11/2011, 7.30pm, Oxford Oxford Club 160 High Street.17/11/2011, 7.30pm, Rangiora John Knox Centre, Stewart Rm, Cnr High & King Sts.22/11/2011, 7.30pm, Kaiapoi Kaiapoi Club 113 Raven Quay - Old restaurantgold coin/koha entryorganised by local Green Party candidate John Kelcher